


From the Ashes

by Corvid_ink



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Bad Ending, First Dates, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Venom Symbiote (Marvel), M/M, Other, Reverse hurt/comfort, i'm only a little sorry, idk if there's a tag for this, romcoms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-22 07:35:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16593599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corvid_ink/pseuds/Corvid_ink
Summary: Several months after the events that first brought them together, Venom decides that it's high time to take their host on a first date. Eddie never really gave it much thought, but after everything he's been through he figures that romancing the alien that lives inside him isn't the weirdest thing he's ever done. And with the shattered pieces of the Avengers showing up and causing chaos in the news again, there seems to be no time like the present.Besides, what could possibly go wrong?





	From the Ashes

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Venom (2018) and Avengers: Infinity War part 1 ahead. You have been warned.

“ _Jesus Christ_ careful! You’ll make us crash if you keep that up!” 

_**I would not let us crash!**_

Venom pulled the brakes on the bike as they came to an intersection, Eddie glancing around to survey the traffic. It was about midday so most of the city was bustling as usual. It would have been slow and tedious work getting around if they were stuck in a bulky car, but Venom didn’t care for slow and tedious and motorcycles could weave through traffic like water in a stream. 

It wasn’t often that Eddie let Venom drive the bike for him. They would usually just hang back or cling to his head as a living helmet while Eddie did the driving. It was often pretty mind-numbing, especially on traffic-heavy days like this, but every now and then their host would let them take the handles and control the destination, route, and speed. Eddie called it bonding time, which was ridiculous given that they were already bonded. 

Venom sped down the road once the light changed, no particular destination in mind this time. It was a nice day and Eddie had some free time, which was becoming rarer and rarer with the demands of Eddie’s new gig. It was enough just to have some time alone with their host when his mind wasn’t crowded with words, and his brain always flooded with phenethylamine and adrenaline when they went this fast. 

“If we get another ticket, I swear– _shit watch out_ ,” Eddie hissed. Venom had swerved between two cars and narrowly hit a third, squeezing the accelerator and leaving them in the dust as traffic suddenly cleared for them. “You’re gonna get us killed!” 

Venom huffed impatiently. Their host worried far too much. It wasn’t as if they would ever let anything happen to him, and even if they crashed Venom could fix him. 

_**I would never let you die.**_

Eddie chuckled nervously, glancing around at the passing scenery. “Yeah, well you coulda fooled me.” Venom could tell he wasn’t serious. Eddie trusted them deeply, it was written in every fold of his brain, etched into the very DNA of his cells. Thrills and instinctual fear aside, Eddie knew Venom would never let anything happen to him. 

Venom slowed down as they came to a familiar intersection. During that time they had just gone in a loop. “Any particular plans, Ven?” Eddie snarked, glancing around at the shops. One store had a display window of flat screen tvs of various size, all playing some news report from New York. The Avengers were fighting something again. 

 

_At one point had Eddie explained who the Avengers were. He said they were Good Guys, like he and Venom were, only with less head-eating. Venom wasn’t sure if they entirely believed it. The people on TV said they were Bad people, that they killed a lot of Good people, that they needed to be restrained and monitored so as to not cause any more damage. Every time they heard about the Avengers it struck them as all too similar to Riot: wanton destruction for a supposedly noble cause._

**Not like us** , _they had insisted at the time._

_“Yeah,” Eddie had replied. “I guess not.”_

 

Venom didn’t answer Eddie’s question right away, considering their options. Just mindlessly driving the bike around would get old quickly, and it wouldn’t do good to blow off Eddie’s one free day all month. They wanted to make the most out of their free time. 

_**What do humans do when they go on dates?**_

Eddie blinked in surprise. “Dates? You mean like romance-dates?” 

_**Duh.**_

He cocked his head. Images of humans at candlelit dinners and holding hands in movie theaters flashed through his mind, followed by a short lived scene of a sexual encounter. “Uh, well, y’know. Fancy restaurants I guess.” There was a short memory of he and Anne toasting over an engagement dinner. “Why do you ask?” 

_**I want to go on a date.**_

“Right now?” 

_**Yes, right now.**_

“With _me?_ ” 

_**Yes with you! Stop being dense!**_

Eddie stumbled over his words as Venom sped down the road again. There was another burst of phenethylamine as he answered. “Yeah, yeah sure I guess we could do that.” 

_**Good. What constitutes a restaurant as “fancy”?**_

Eddie laughed. “Whichever one you like.” 

Venom liked eating at home with Eddie, but that didn’t qualify as a restaurant. Besides, it had to be special if it was going to be their first date. That’s what they had gathered about first dates, anyway. They thought about the fanciest restaurant they had ever been to – er, the second fanciest anyway. They were still banned from that lobster place. 

_**I want to go to the Chili’s Restaurant.**_

Eddie burst out laughing, hunched over the handlebars. People were staring but he didn’t seem to notice. 

_**What? What’s so funny about Chili’s?**_

Eddie took a few seconds to calm down. “Nothing, nothing. Chili’s sounds great.” 

_**Good. We will go tonight then.**_

Venom felt Eddie’s lips curl up into a crooked smile, phenethylamine blooming again. “Whatever you say, Venom.” 

They drove home, slower this time and basking in the soft warmth glowing in the back of Eddie’s mind. 

*** 

Eddie glanced around furtively, hoping nobody was staring as Venom tore through the Texas cheese fries. He wasn’t sure what the symbiote liked so much about potatoes, but he refused to believe that they “supply an important dietary essential” like Venom had insisted the last time he asked. 

Maybe he could imagine potatoes could be good for an alien parasite, but Venom had said the same thing about chocolate, so he was inclined to believe the whole thing was probably bullshit. 

“So,” he began one Venom polished off the fries, “What do you wanna talk about?” He’d made sure to wear a pair of earbuds this time, a trick he’d picked up after getting weird looks for talking to himself in public. 

_**Talk?**_

“Yeah, y’know. That’s generally what people do on dates. They just talk.” He was still somewhat mystified that Venom had asked him on a date so suddenly. He knew they were getting close, but it was hard to suss out the ramifications of getting friendly with a symbiote. He honestly wasn’t sure how he felt about it, good or bad, so he figured he would just roll with it just to see where it went. 

Venom seemed to pause for a moment. _**What is the point of that?**_ They finally said. _**I know everything about you.**_

“Well I don’t know everything about you,” Eddie shot back. “It’s a bonding exercise, y’know?” 

_**We have already–**_

“Not the same thing, Ven.” Eddie sighed and fidgeted with the salt packets. “Look, why don’t you tell me about where you’re from?” 

_**Where I’m from? You mean Klyntar?**_

“Yeah. What was it like?” 

Eddie suddenly felt a chill run up his spine. He got flashes of pain, misery, resentment, something like regret but not quite the same. Fear. 

_**It was… Brutal. Cold. Ugly. Everything this planet is not.**_

There was another flash, one of light warmth. Something calm and pleasant. 

_**I would not go back.**_

Eddie nodded solemnly, still processing what he just felt. Venom only ever communicated nonverbally when something was particularly emotionally taxing. The last time it happened was when they were separated after destroying the rocket. 

 

_The heat had been unbearable, but the flames didn’t touch his skin. Venom had cling to him in a protective layer, even as coils of agony whipped through his mind, a high pitched gurgling accompanied by flashes of jagged colors. It all tore away at once as Venom bid their farewell and pushed away from Eddie, their body shredding in midair. Eddie had still been screaming as he plunged into the black waters of the Pacific._

_As terrible as it had felt at the time, the emptiness that followed in the weeks after before Venom found him again was so much worse._

 

Eddie shredded a salt packet, cognizant of the way Venom was coiling restlessly in his chest. “Well,” he said after too many moments of silence, “you’re here now. You never have to go back.” He smiled as he felt Venom start to calm down again. “We’re safe.” 

The flash of warm light returned and sustained, resting over his mind like a quilt, heavy and calming. 

Eddie looked up as the waitress came by with their food. He sheepishly brushed aside the spilled salt with the side of his hand to make room for the plate holding a very rare hamburger. “Yeah, Thank you ma’am.” 

She gave him a weird look for a moment before standing up straight. “Now I know you asked for the hamburger to be ‘as rare as we can make it’, but I should warn you that there are health concerns–“ 

“Oh, it’s fine, it’s fine,” Eddie interrupted, flashing her a crooked smile. “I have a really good immune system.” 

She chuckled and smiled back once before leaving him with a simple “enjoy your meal” and walking away. 

Eddie picked up the burger and started eating. He used to get all his meat very well done, all too aware of parasites and contaminants that can come from undercooked meat from the few stories he did on criminal health and safety practices in certain chain restaurants (these episodes eventually led to the protesting, investigation, and closing of said restaurants). However, Venom hated what they called ‘dead meat’ and preferred it raw. Eddie protested at first, but Venom reminded him that if Eddie got sick they would be able to destroy the intruders. Eddie wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or a little weirded out. 

Regardless, he’s developed a taste for raw meat, in no small part due to how happy it made Venom. 

The burger was gone as fast as the fries. “You know,” Eddie said, wiping grease and condiments off his hands with a few napkins, “it won’t be much of a date if we’re in and out in an hour.” 

_**I was hungry.**_

“You’re always hungry.” Eddie picked up the dessert menu off the side of the table. “They have a chocolate lava cake here, you want that?” 

Eddie suddenly pulled the menu closer, chuckling as Venom read over the listing excitedly. 

_**Yes get that.**_

“Sure thing buddy.” He put the menu away, pushing aside the empty plate and leaning on his hand. There wasn’t really much to talk about with the symbiote. It wasn’t like talking to a human, where he could at least expect the other person to have had some form of recognizable childhood or a career or plans for the future. Venom was alien in every sense of the word. Eddie wasn’t sure if their species even had what someone could call a childhood, and all their identifiable goals, dreams, and aspirations had to do with either food or Eddie. He didn’t even know if Venom had a favorite color. 

Actually. 

“Do you have a favorite color?” 

_**What?**_

“You know, do you have a favorite color? Like a color you really like?” 

_**It seems like a waste of time to categorize inane details based on personal partiality like that.**_

Eddie held his hands up. “Okay okay, I get it. Just thought I’d ask.”

_**...Does black count?**_

Eddie snorted into his hand. “Sure, Venom. Black absolutely counts.” He felt Venom settle inside his ribcage, satisfied. He never thought he’d get used to the feeling of something moving around inside of him. Despite the blurred edges between their cells, with no definitive point of where Eddie ended and Venom began, it had been downright skin crawling whenever their mass moved from one general area to the next. But now it wasn’t so bad. If anything it was almost… comforting. Like a small reminder that they were with him, always. 

He glanced up at the nearby tv as he waited for the waitress to come back. It was playing a news clip from Edinburgh, showcasing another fight with the Avengers. Although… Weren’t those the guys who went missing after the controversy? 

 

_A couple years ago Eddie had wanted to do a piece about the Avengers. The whole world was questioning if they should be forced to comply to government regulation, and being who he was Eddie had wanted to talk about all the good they had done, and how government agencies didn’t exactly have the best track record for responding to catastrophe in a timely fashion._

_Then Lagos happened. The conversation tipped irreversibly in one direction, the UN had already made their decision, the Avengers started infighting and going missing, and his boss threatened him with pain of death not to do any story remotely mentioning the Avengers._

 

_**What are they doing?**_

Eddie shrugged, watching the screen. “I dunno. I’m sure it’ll be everywhere by tomorrow morning.” 

_**Something is going to go wrong.**_

“You don’t know that,” Eddie said, but he couldn’t deny that part of him believed it. Every time the Avengers got involved with something lately, countless people got hurt or killed. It was getting more and more difficult to separate out the problems they had solved from the problems they themselves caused. “I’m sure everything will be fine.” 

Venom curled closer to his heart, almost protectively. Eddie smiled. He couldn’t lie that it was nice to have someone so close to him be concerned about his safety. 

The rest of the dinner went smoothly, if you could use that word for it. Venom was more than happy to devour the chocolate lava cake, making such a big mess out of it that Eddie suspected he’d be picking bits of cake out of his hair for the rest of the night. He left the check for the waitress (ensuring a hefty tip for dealing with the unfortunate mess) and headed back to the bike. He was just about to turn on the ignition when he paused. 

“Hey Ven, you wanna take this one tonight?” 

_**You want to let me drive?**_

“Sure,” he said, leaning back. “Tonight was your idea and I had fun. Have at it.” 

Venom eagerly slid over his hands, quickly taking the handlebars of the bike. “Just don’t crash into anyth– _fuck!_ ” Eddie was cut off by Venom driving the bike into the street, going from parked to flying at 80mph down the highway in a matter of minutes. “Holy _shit!_ ” 

*** 

They got home in one piece, despite the few close calls Venom put them through in an attempt to get past the second worst driver in San Francisco. Eddie ranted the rest of the way home, alternating between complaining about how that shouldn’t have been anywhere near the wheel of a car and explaining to venom that being a bad driver did not earn a very toothy death sentence. Venom acquiesced sooner than usual, if only because they had already eaten a very good meal. 

Eddie sighed as they got back into their apartment, Venom manifesting partially over his shoulder. They new he preferred being able to talk to them face to face, and while they didn’t completely understand what difference it made they were more than happy to offer him that small comfort. They relaxed on his shoulder as he sat down on the couch, turning on the tv to see if there was anything good on Netflix. 

_**Are we going to “Netflix and Chill”, Eddie?**_

Eddie burst out laughing, nearly dropping the remote. “Where– Oh my god where did you even learn that?” 

_**I saw it on your social media. That is what humans do for dates, isn’t it?**_

“That is– fuck,” Eddie said, holding his hand over his mouth. “God, that’s such an old meme.” 

_**We should Netflix and Chill, Eddie.**_

“Even if I knew _how_ … Nah, no. Let’s just Netflix, okay?” He started flicking through the genres. “What do you want to watch? A romcom?” 

_**Yes.**_

“That was a– Actually you know what? Yeah, let’s watch a romcom. We’re on a date, that’s what people do on dates.” Eddie still found himself a bit mystified by the fact that he was on a date with Venom, and even more so by the fact that he seemed to be enjoying himself more than he thought he would. It hadn’t been that long since Venom showed up in his life, but he’d gotten comfortable. He never thought about it in a romantic context (well, maybe never; he certainly contemplated it a few times, but it always seemed a bit too strange to actually follow through with), but now that Venom had initiated it… 

Well, he certainly wasn’t complaining. 

Eddie brought up a movie he’d seen a million times. It was a comfortable movie, one he could always depend on to make him feel good even if he’d had a bad day. It was a staple of some of the lowest moments of his life, but somehow it never got tainted by negative emotions like things usually do. It was one of his favorite movies. 

He hoped Venom would like it. 

Venom draped around Eddies neck, watching the movie from over his shoulder. It wasn’t like anything else Venom had seen. Whenever they watched movies together they tended to be action films or horror flicks, movies Eddie had chosen on the assumption that Venom might like them. They had, of course liked them (especially the scenes where someone was killed – those made them hungry), but this movie was appealing in a different way. The plot was fairly simplistic and domestic, just centering around a handful of characters and their interactions with each other. The conflicts in the plot were relatively low-consequence, but that just emphasized the budding relationship between the main characters. It was sweet, calm, and yet still engaging and fun to watch. 

And then the characters started to talk about love. What it meant to them, what it meant to each other. They talked about soulmates and meant-to-be and together forever. How much they meant to each other. 

It felt like a vibration through the air, wrapping around their cells and affecting them to the core. It resonated. 

_**Do you love me, Eddie?**_

Eddie started. This was the first time he had heard anything from them during the movie and he’d gotten sucked into the story himself. It took him a moment to process what they just said. 

Did he love them? He certainly had gotten used to having them around, to the point where he felt empty when they weren’t there. But did that mean he loved them? He thought of all the times he shared parts of his life with them, the times they made him laugh so hard he started crying, the times they wrapped around him and comforted him after he came out of a nightmare or fell into a panic attack. He thought about how he felt when they coiled in his chest, feeling more like a warm comfort than like a burden. He thought of the nights when he considered that he might never really get to be romantically involved with anyone else, and the nights when, curled up with Venom coiled around his arms, he thought he really wouldn’t mind. 

“Yeah, Venom,” he said finally. “ I think I do.” 

He felt that light warmth again, stronger than he’d ever felt it before. For the first time he thought he might be able to put a name to it. It felt like hope. 

_**I love you too, Eddie.**_

*** 

The city was active as ever the next day, traffic moving just fast enough for Eddie to weave between cars legally and cut off maybe just a few too many people. 

_**We aren’t going to make it in time.**_

“Of course we are! It’s just gonna take some–” He cut off as he swerved narrowly between two cars, which proceeded to honk at him as he sped off. “Ah, finessing.” 

_**The interview is in five minutes. The destination is ten minutes away.**_

“Just let me handle it! _Fuck!_ ” Eddie nearly tipped over his bike as he game to a sudden stop in front of a red light. 

_**Told you.**_

Eddie tapped the handles impatiently. “Yeah well… shit. I wanted to make a good impression on this one.” 

_**Learn to wake up sooner, genius!**_

“So what if I forgot to set my alarm? I’m only human!” Eddie sped off again as soon as he was able, taking just a glancing look at his phone to check the time. 

_**Keep your eyes on the road!**_

Eddie swerved around another car, cursing. “Since when did you give a shit about road safety?” He felt venom curl anxiously around his spine and shuddered. 

_**Something bad is going to happen today…**_

Eddie flexed his fingers nervously. Venom hadn’t sounded this worried about anything since the fight with Riot. “What makes you say that?” 

_**I can feel it.**_

Eddie glanced around once before rounding a corner. He was getting close to his destination. “Well, I’m sure everything is gonna be alright.” 

_**Eddie, this is important! Something is wrong!**_

Eddie chuckled, flashing a crooked smile. “You worry too much, Ven–” 

He paused, almost in a trance. Two seconds later they crashed into the car in front of him. 

_**EDDIE!**_

Venom surrounded him, avoiding the flames licking from the engine as they worked to fix his broken bones. They pulled him away from the wreckage, desperately trying to keep his body in working order, and manifested over his body. 

Eddie looked up at them, his eyes unfocused and glazed over. 

“Ven…?” 

Venom wrapped around his organs as they felt his cells begin to disperse. 

_**EDDIE!**_

They watched in horror as pieces of their host turned to ashes and scattered on the asphalt below. 

_**EDDIE NO!**_

They lost vision and form, collapsing into their amorphous form and spreading themselves thin over Eddie’s remains. They couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, could barely think. All they felt was ashes, nothing but ashes. They let out an agonizing, alien scream, unable to find their host, unwilling to believe he was just gone. 

The atmosphere became oppressing, attacking them from all sides. They dragged themselves towards the nearest vibrations, climbing up the leg of a living body and seeping into their cells. Venom assumed control, looking around madly and stumbling and calling for Eddie with already raw vocal chords. Then it happened again, the cells they were attached to falling to pieces and leaving them formless again. 

_**NO! PLEASE!**_

Venom continued the vicious cycle, entering a new host and having the body either eject them violently or fall apart from under them. Finally they managed to take a stable host, a young man still reeling from the events around him. They snatched control from them, looking around at the chaos surrounding them. 

Everywhere they looked, life forms were turning to dust. Humans, dogs, even trees were blowing away into the wind. Cars were crashed into each other and burning, their drivers having disappeared from behind the wheel just like Eddie had. Worst of all, the air was punctuated by a horrible, horrible silence accompanying the ashes floating through the street like a hazy fog. 

Venom fell to their host’s knees and screamed. 

_**“EDDIE!”** _

**Author's Note:**

> I did not intend for this to be as fluff-heavy as it ended up being but I am so so happy with the results. 
> 
> I might write a continuation for this since I have ideas for where it could go from here, but that depends on whether or not I want to wait for IWpt2 to come out. 
> 
> As always a big thank you to my friends and my gf for helping me make this happen! You guys are the best <3


End file.
